Things Of Note #30
Journey to the End of Time
Hi friends,
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving (for those who celebrated).
This letter is a relatively short one, in part for variety, but mostly because I have been a bit unfocused and scattered this weekend.
Timelapse of The Future: A Journey to the End of Time
melodysheep | 30 mins
Awe-inspiring! Easily one of the best things I have watched in a while. I was spell-bound all throughout.
I think what shook me the most was being reminded of how a lifetime is not even a blip in the cosmic scale of things. It feels like a lot has happened, that we are at the culmination of time, the forefront, yet when compared against the life of the Universe, time hasn’t even begun. Of course, that’s a timescale we can’t even fathom, so much so that it’s pretty much irrelevant to us.
However, even bringing it to our levels, it’s amazing to contemplate all of the many things that are yet to happen. What would 2150 look like? What things will happen between now and then? We’d be like how the 1890s seem to us right now. In fact, orders of magnitude even more ancient as technological growth is exponential (how much has happened in just this last 20 years!).
Of course, all these are “obvious” thoughts in that everyone, at some point, has these thoughts—that of the ever extending infinite future.
The second thing that struck me was the end, which our current best guess marks as ending “in ice”, in nothingness. I was amazed to learn that even black holes will all die eventually! There will be no matter left. In the absolute physical sense too—in the end, Nothing Matters.
It also means that humanity and any other intelligent lifeforms are fated to perish. (That is, unless we find a way to escape this universe). We are stardust and we will again be star-dust, and then eventually nothing.
This generated a funny feeling of “oneness” in me. I walked around getting a feel for things—the concrete wall, the laundry clippers, the yellow notebook I have been scribbling in, a guava I had been munching on… everything is just atoms, stardust, and fated to, in due time, be nothing.
The cosmic scale is truly humbling and to such an extent that you don’t even protest or harbor any ill-feeling. There is only this acceptance, of being taken along for the ride, this journey to the end of time.
When Time Became History
Kurzgesagt | 11 mins
A fascinating look at human history. Of how far we have come. And consequently, how far we might go.
Newest learning for me: the transition to agriculture-based sustenance wasn’t easy, with one factor being the loss of diversity in our source of nutrition, and the creation of different diseases (in fact, a lot of the major ones of today) due to living with cattle in close quarters.
Life is Short
Paul Graham | 8 mins
A contemplative essay where Paul codifies what we know deep down: Life is short, and it is definitely too short for bullshit.
We know the bullshit we spend our time on: "Unnecessary meetings, pointless disputes, bureaucracy, posturing, dealing with other people's mistakes, traffic jams, addictive but unrewarding pastimes."
There are two ways bullshit gets in our lives:
Forced on us. After all, we have to make money, survive. And that act alone can carry a lot of BS. However, Paul contends it is possible to optimize for BS-avoidance in one’s career.
The ones we take on ourselves. E.g. Arguing online. These we have to consciously avoid.
Alternatively, seek out stuff that matters. But this is specific to every individual and is hard to find. One heuristic on whether X is something that matters or not is whether you’d still care about it in the future.
Relentlessly prune bullshit, don't wait to do things that matter, and savor the time you have. That's what you do when life is short.
💻 Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years
Peter Norvig | 12 mins
A response to the wave of learn-programming-quick ethos being seen in the early 2000s. Equally valid today too.
The essay covers—among other things—the usefulness of deliberate practice. And a recipe for becoming a programmer (selected and shortened):
Get truly interested.
Program. Learn by Doing.
Talk with other programmers; read other programs
Work on projects with other programmers. Be the worst in some of them. Be the best in some of them.
Work on projects after other programmers.
Learn at least a half dozen Programming Languages with different focuses and paradigms.
Remember there is a "computer" in computer science.
80,000 Hours
We spend the biggest chunk of our waking lives at work. So it’s worth thinking about how we spend that time.
80,000’s Career Guide can be a good window into a way to look at the issue.
One caveat: Their goal is mostly oriented around how to best contribute to solving the problems of the world, aligning with Effective Altruism. It surely doesn’t match with everyone’s personal values and goals. Furthermore, it is definitely easier to follow if you are in a more affluent place in life.
Still, I think it’s tremendously useful as one of the tools/views into the question of what should we do in life. After all, the answer is a matter of personal choice.
[Poem] Kubla Khan, Or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round;
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
…
Classic poem with an interesting origin, which makes for some interesting analysis.
According to Coleridge's preface to Kubla Khan, the poem was composed one night after he experienced an opium-influenced dream after reading a work describing Xanadu, the summer palace of the Mongol ruler and Emperor of China Kublai Khan. Upon waking, he set about writing lines of poetry that came to him from the dream until he was interrupted by "a person from Porlock". The poem could not be completed according to its original 200–300 line plan as the interruption caused him to forget the lines.
🎵 Music
Have always loved this song. But (unbelievably) only this week did I read the full lyrics… and well, now it’s one of my favorites.
Otherworldly. :)
Closing Thoughts
I finished Steppenwolf this week. It was a trippy read and I am afraid most of it went above my head, especially towards the end. It did have fragments that were hard-hitting for me though. At any rate, will look to read more from Hesse.
Have a great week ahead!
With love and more,
Bijay
I spent this weekend listening more than 10 times including the above live version. Coincidence.